Breaking a brief freeze, China on Thursday indicated it was ready for a military engagement with US by saying it would welcome a visit by the American defence secretary Robert Gates at an “appropriate time”.
“We still welcome him (Robert Gates) to visit China at a time which is workable for both sides,” General Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army was quoted as saying by state run Xinhua news agency. The General’s nod for Mr Gates visit came when asked whether it is possible for US defence secretary to visit China in the coming months, according to the report.
The apparent olive branch comes after Beijing suddenly called off a visit by Mr Gates in early June amid tensions between Washington and Beijing over arms sales to Taiwan.
The freeze in military engagement came even as Beijing kept up a strategic, political and economic dialogue open. The Chinese action came as US anno-unced six billion arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing regards as its estranged pro-vince. The meeting between US President Barack Obama and Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama also infuriated Beijing. The persistent Chinese military opposition for defence dialogue infuriated Mr Gates who accused the PLA of putting obstacles in the way of improvement of military to military contacts between the two countries.
But despite showing opposition outwardly, top def-ence officials of the two nations formed part of the huge delegations at the str-ategic and economic dialogue held between the two nations recently.
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Pak, China militaries to hold joint anti-terror drill
AGE CORRESPONDENT
Islamabad
July 1: A contingent of Pakistan Army left for China to participate in a third joint military training exercise named YOUYI-III (Friendship), the Pakistani military said. The exercise will be conducted from July 1 to July 7 at Qingtongxia in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region. Troops of Special Services Group of both the nations will participate in the exercise. The aim of the exercise is to practice counter-terrorism mechanisms and developing inter-personal rapport between participants.